Versailles-era infrastructure still caps German naval growth

German naval ambition was constrained more by infrastructure than by a lack of designs or engineers. The post-First World War settlement reduced the shipbuilding base and left any major expansion dependent on years of yard, dock, and workforce investment. Building engines differently does not create those facilities or standardise Germany's fragmented small-batch production. Nazi economic priorities and the Five-Year Plan also continue to direct resources away from naval construction. Britain and the United States possess either extensive inherited yards or ample room to add more, so they can answer the propulsion change with additional ships. The counterfactual consequently improves German units faster than it improves German fleet size.